If you play a teenager on TV but are in a hurry to doff your saccharine image, there are few better ways to do that than to strip down for a sexy, sexy photoshoot with “controversial” photographer Terry Richardson. Lea Michele is only the latest starlet to pop a hip against a white background for Richardson, and she won’t be the last.

Michele is pretty sexy on her own, but her V Magazine shoot with Richardson is not particularly interesting, or even sexy. Richardson’s work rarely is. The photos posted to Michele’s Twitter account look like every other sexless “sexy” shoot Richardson has done for Miley Cyrus, Miranda Kerr, and Paris Hilton.

We remain bewildered by his continued relevance in the face of his unimpressive work.

“How does he keep getting work?” we wonder whenever he releases a new photo set. While we long ago realized that in this world artistic prowess is enough to earn a pass for one’s personal failings, up to and including accusations of harassment like those levied against Richardson by The Gloss’ own Jamie Peck, we always assumed there had to be a minimum level of artistry involved.

But Richardson’s continued eminence in his field seems to have less to do with the cookie-cutter version of sex he’s peddling and more to do with the way he markets his personality, sexual harassment accusations and all. These flat, generic pictures aren’t edgy or controversial in their own right, but by agreeing to a photoshoot with Richardson his subjects borrow controversy by association. He’s selling his personality more than his pictures, and that’s a pretty lame reason to hire a photographer.